commitment to service

COOP is Community

WE live in an ethereal pool of plant, animal, and human life that makes up you and me. Though it is not apparent in this society that we are all connected, our cooperative experiences have led us down a path which recognizes that this connection is way more than what the eye can see. In other words, the Community is the co-op and the co-op is the Community. And for this foundational reason, we find that by continually lending hands & hearts to help our community, we're DIRECTLY helping ourselves. So if you thought we're lookin' to be saints, think again. =) Organizations We Contribute Towards: Below are organizations we currently contribute our Co-Op energies towards and should you be interested in any of them, you can simply click on the link provided with their brief description or you can also reach out to us anytime @ contact@thehempcoop.org. If you're ever interested in participating in these events with us when space is not limited, we'd be honored.

Feeding the homeless in downtown Santa Ana has been our go-to place since we became aware of the hundreds that gather daily there in search for food. The city requires a permit to set up stations to hand out food so if you don't have a permit like us, you can simply prepare the food in advance and walk around to hand it out. Location? Civic Center Plaza. You drive around the area and won't miss the many that lingers year-round.

Though we may not agree w/ all the purposes of war, our troops are overseas risking their lives so we still care to help however we can and sending care packages we thought was a great way. The location we visited to assemble all the care packages was in Burbank and the 50 man OPERATION GRATITUDE non-profit organization running the show were incredibly organized in getting us set up to help. If interested, you may click the following link to get set up with them. https://www.insideoutys.org/about/contact/

Giving clothes to the needy alone is pretty awesome and giving clothes for a purpose of getting these struggling individuals employed and moving again is insanely amazing. Other than donating clothes that are clean and ready to be worn, preferably hung, we arrive at the Costa Mesa building to help Working Wardrobes sort through clothes and assemble care packages. For more information, feel free to reach out to these amazing people @ http://www.workingwardrobes.org/contact-us/

About 30 years ago, Mertle Hatle started this soup kitchen in a Chinese Restaurant that was once owned by the Wahoo's Fish Tacos brothers. Simply designed to feed the needy around the area, this amazing organization feeds up to 300 people today. LoLo, who runs the kitchen is quite the Chef and allows for our group of 12 to have fun while contributing towards this cause. This place is so well known that even Pepsi's team shows up to help. For big parties of 8-10 or more, you must call first to organize. To contact them, you can visit this page: http://www.someonecareskitchen.org/pages/contact.html

Visiting the Town & Country Manor hospice and spending time with the patients there is one of the most extraordinary experience we at the Co-Op have experienced. Why? Simply put, understanding that a lot of these patients may be experiencing the last leg of their human experience, their zest for life isn't the greatest. For this reason, by merely showing up and spending time through conversations, magic / music performances, gift giving, etc., we feel as if we've flipped a switch, so-to-speak, on their life and for that drastic of an effect we had in the mere 2 hours there, it felt super rewarding! If you're into something like this, please check out this link to organize a visit: http://www.tcmanor.com/contact/

Though not exactly identical, the experience at the Beachside Nursing Home in Huntington Beach was quite similar to that of the hospice @ Town & Country Manor. The only difference for us was the room where we gathered was much smaller, about 1/3 the size of the gathering room @ the Town & Country Manor so you may need to limit your party to about 5 or less people to remain somewhat comfortable in that tight space. For more details, you can either reach out to us or contact them directly at this link: http://www.beachsidenursing.com/contact-us/

Spending time at an elementary school with a bunch of toddlers was quite a high-energy experience as you would've imagined. The school, both school & stuff, is amazingly receptive to our presence and very appreciative of what we had to offer. Other than performing the usual magic, music, & gift giving, we got to spend additional time with the kids during recess and relived a lot of fond carefree memories through these kids. The experience was beyond words and we're so grateful for this unique opportunity to learn from the kids on how to be youthful once more. A++ recommendation given that the school is available to do this since they do have a tight schedule to follow. The school doesn't have a website but you can click here to be directed to google's directory for their contact information: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hansen+elementary+school+anaheim+ca

Located in Irvine, this food bank is located at an extremely large IKEA sized office/warehouse where a bunch of their donated food is stored. Our team of 8 had visited from 8-12pm spending time sorting through food and prepping it for distribution. Unlike most of the other community service gatherings above, this one required more physical labor (lifting) and therefore rewarding in that sense. There's no over thinking or much socializing required so it's chill for those that just want to contribute time / physical labor. To organize this event, please visit them @ http://feedoc.org/AboutUs.aspx

If you enjoy kids, or orphaned kids at that, this is definitely the place for you. In the US, it's quite restrictive when it comes to being around and working with kids due to the sexual harassment nature and the sue-happy environment we're in. If we're not mistaken, you're required to have a certain # of qualified hours (handling kids) before you register to participate at most, if not all Orphanages (please correct us if we're wrong). However, in Mexico near the border where these orphanages are located (although the nonprofit that supports it is based out of Irvine), the laws aren't as restrictive and to participate only requires a $55 ticket (3-hour bus ride-lunch included). It is only this safe & easy because Corazon de Vida have spent the last 20+ years laying out this transportation system going into and out of Mexico with their Chartered bus. Things to do while you're there mainly consists of playing a plethora of games with the kids or simply just holding them and the day starts from around 6am (bus departure time) all the way til about 5pm (bus drop off time) and the trip happens once a month. For more details, here's their website: http://www.corazondevida.org/events.html

Check out some videos we've compiled for the past events we've attended. Come back for new videos as we're beginning to capture all the beautiful experiences to share. Hope ya like em! <3 Co-Op

Thanks to Lori, aka LoLo, and the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen team for allowing us to swing through and help prep food for the needy. Our team of 12 had so much fun that it honestly didn't feel like "helping" at all. If you're interested to lend a hand to this soup kitchen (see video above), feel free to make arrangements to visit them in Costa Mesa, California (For large groups, remember to call first to make arrangements 720 West 19th Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. [949] 548.8861)

Video Quirks

Due to requests from our participating community organizations such as schools & hospices, we've omitted certain content that the organizations find sensitive to their operations. Hence, in the videos that we've captured below, you'll likely see only images of us though we care not to be overly vain. <3